City Beat: Dispensaries raided for acting like for-profit businesses

September 9, 2009 – 9:22 pm — Eric Wolff
The police raids on numerous San Diego County medical marijuana dispensaries that took place throughout the afternoon are the culmination of a five-month investigation, CityBeat has learned. A law enforcement source close to the operation and familiar with the details told CityBeat the investigation revealed that many of the marijuana collectives and co-ops were functioning as for-profit businesses, and thus lost the protection granted to them by voters under Proposition 215 in 1996.

Since February’s announcement by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder that the Drug Enforcement Administration would not be raiding marijuana dispensaries, California has seen explosive growth in new storefront marijuana collectives and co-ops. They are governed by guidelines (PDF) laid out by California Attorney General Jerry Brown last year. Brown’s rules use precedent set by the courts and the language of Prop. 215 to define ways in which patients and primary caregivers can band together to grow marijuana, and thus take advantage of economies of scale. But Brown’s guidelines are also very specific, stating that a dispensary under whatever legal form it takes cannot operate as a for-profit business. In the final paragraph, the guidelines lay out some indicators of for-profit operations for law enforcement:

“When investigating collectives or cooperatives, law enforcement officers should be alert for signs of mass production or illegal sales, including (a) excessive amounts of marijuana, (b) excessive amounts of cash, (c) failure to follow local and state laws applicable to similar businesses, such as maintenance of any required licenses and payment of any required taxes, including sales taxes, (d) weapons, (e) illicit drugs, (f) purchases from, or sales or distribution to, non-members, or (g) distribution outside of California.” for the rest of the story go here

Did anybody not see this coming? Our county government officials didn’t get their way in court, but this shows they aren’t giving up their fight against medical marijuana. Remember this incident when county officials come up for reelection.

I hope this rag isn’t restricted to ob res., Joe near SDSU chiming in. I’m tired of the DA selecting who wins and looses. Your sworn to uphold the law, not selective interpretations. I don’t smoke any more, but what the fuck does that have to do with it. I went to the DA website the other day, Bonnie is releasing press releases about legislation affecting her budget. It’s all about the budget. If she doesn’t get funding were all going to have lawlessness. I’m tired of the sheepherders telling me where I can graze.

Here is the problem Shawn, how does a cop determine who is selling legitimately and who is not? I happen to know one of the people arrested because I used to buy from him. Once he opened a shop though he refused to sell to me, a close friend of 5+ years, until I had gotten a prescription. To believe the cops premise I would have to believe that my friend, who has held my hand in the hospital before going into surgery, would sell to a random stranger illegally yet would not sell to me illegally. Not going to happen. As with just about everything, this is nothing more than one of a million + examples of how cops are willing to lie through their teeth every single day to justify their jobs. In my personal experience, this is more about the cops protecting their personal turf and kickbacks from illegal dealers then it is about reigning in scofflaw medicine peddlers. Its a competitive market and unfortunately when the market is illegal, the enforcement tools are guns and cops instead of lawyers and courts.

What were the charges if you do not mind me asking? If your friend had teh corect amount of medicine and dollars he would be within the legal limits. However, too much medicine and to much money lying around causes issues. I am just trying to understand better what your friend got in trouble for.

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